


Sweet as Cherry Wine

by Wynn



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Background Relationships, Brief mentions of other Avengers - Freeform, Confusion, Getting Together, Minor Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Minor Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Minor reference to past Steve/Peggy, Multi, Natasha and Sam give great advice, Pining, Pre-OT3, Romance, Wanda does too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-02 23:50:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5268548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wynn/pseuds/Wynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>The lights of the veranda glisten and gleam behind Darcy and Steve, casting them in a radiant halo. They look like a couple from the pictures, Steve dashing in his tux and Darcy luscious in red. Bucky aches at the sight, his hands twitch in want, but he steels himself against it, pointing to the soiree instead.</em>
</p><p>  <em>“I’m, uh, I think I’m gonna get—”</em></p><p>  <em>“We need to talk.”</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet as Cherry Wine

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt from ladyinkspot on Tumblr: _WinterShieldShock please! Fluff or UST… anything with blushy smile tendencies._ I kind of hit the mark, though this came out more romantic ultimately than fluffy or sexy.
> 
> Title a lyric from Hozier's "Cherry Wine." This is about as far in tone as one can get with that song. I just liked the phrase as it went with the opening image, As always, I don't own the characters from the MCU. I'm just using them for non-profit, entertainment purposes only.

Sweet as Cherry Wine  
By: Wynn

The dress isn’t red exactly. More the color of wine, a velvety merlot that makes Bucky remember the dusty bottle that Morita found in an old farmhouse in France. He’d never tasted wine so good as that, the swill that they served at his church before the war like sugared cat piss. But the wine Morita found had slid over Bucky’s tongue sweet and smooth, a lush mix of cherries and plums that almost made Bucky believe again.

He wants to now as Darcy steps into the light by the entrance to the soiree, her hair curled and mouth shimmering, but Bucky downs the rest of his drink instead, relishing at the burn in a way that would have Natasha shaking her head at him if she knew. She doesn’t, though, so he does because Darcy’s dress isn’t exactly red, but it’s close enough to evoke another memory, Peggy blazing bold as she entered the Jack of All Trades, her eyes sharp and searching for Steve. Bucky sees none of the sharpness in Darcy, but she, too, searches the crowd, her face brightening as Peggy’s had when Darcy spots Steve.

Bucky watches long enough to see Steve notice Darcy, to see the smile that blooms on both their faces, then he turns and leaves. Not the party. Wanda would know if he did, and he can’t do that to her, not tonight, she wanting him here to celebrate her engagement to Vision. But he can leave the room, so he does, slipping through the door to the veranda. A few people mill about beneath the twinkling lights, but no one who’d expect Bucky to speak to them so he passes by, out onto the grounds and beyond until he reaches the edge of the light.

He wants a cigarette. He wants another drink. He wants to go back inside and dance with Darcy and then with Steve, but he doesn’t. He just stands in the cool of the night, his hands in fists and his jaw tight. It’s for the best, them finding each other, being together. Neither of them deserved a wreck like him, no matter the progress he’s made. No matter what Natasha said. All he needs is a minute, just long enough to compose himself, and then he can go back inside and see them, and he can smile and laugh and be the friend they need him to be.

“There he is. Hey, Buck! Darcy’s here!”

Bucky closes his eyes, just for a moment, just long enough to curse fate for this, for denying him once again, then he opens his eyes and turns. He spots Steve and Darcy descending the few steps of the veranda out onto the grounds. Darcy lifts her hand and waves to him when they lock eyes. He sees the gleam of her smile in the dark. The sight makes his heart clench, but he squashes the emotion for a return smile.

“You look wonderful,” he says as she and Steve draw closer.

Darcy stops before him. “Thank you. So do you. All dapper and debonair.”

Bucky snorts at the compliment. “Not so sure about that, but I cleaned up okay, I guess. Which is good since I’m pretty sure Wanda would’ve jinxed me if I showed up looking like a slob.”

Steve shakes his head. “You know that’s not true. She would have been happy that you came, no matter what you wore. Though you do look nice,” he adds after a moment.

Bucky shrugs and lifts a hand, rubbing it along his neck in lieu of a response. The lights of the veranda glisten and gleam behind Darcy and Steve, casting them in a radiant halo. They look like a couple from the pictures, Steve dashing in his tux and Darcy luscious in red. Bucky aches at the sight, his hands twitch in want, but he steels himself against it, pointing to the soiree instead.

“I’m, uh, I think I’m gonna get—”

“We need to talk.” 

Bucky freezes at Steve’s words. From the corners of his eyes, he sees Darcy does too. She peers at Steve, a furrow appearing between her brows as she says, “Now? But what about—”

Steve meets her eyes. “Wanda said that we should.”

Darcy raises her brows at that. “Wow. Really? Now?”

Steve nods. “She said the time was right.” 

Darcy glances at Bucky, her brow still creased. Bucky lowers his gaze, her misgivings about him too much. “Okay,” she says softly. “Do you want to, or should I?” 

“I will.” 

There’s a pause and then Steve draws in a deep breath. Bucky peers up, sees him lifting his chin and squaring his shoulders. He stares at Bucky, but Bucky can’t really see the expression on his face, not with the lights shining behind. He hears Steve swallow, sees his chest inflate as he pulls in another deep breath. Then he begins.

“Darcy and I… We have something we’d like to talk to you about.”

Bucky presses his lips together. A lump forms in his throat because he knows what Steve wants to say, what they both want to tell him, because he’d seen them earlier in the week when Darcy returned from her short trip with Jane, how they’d looked at each other in the common room, the same joy as in the ballroom just minutes before. But he won’t let their happiness dim because of him, so he gives a short nod and says, “Okay.”

Steve nods as well. He licks his lips and draws in another breath. Bucky pulls in one too, bracing himself for the already known revelation to come.

“We want to date you.”

Bucky jerks his head up, his eyes going wide as he looks at Darcy. He sees Steve gawking at her too, and she goes red at the combined stares. 

“I’m sorry,” she says to Steve. “I know you had a speech prepared, but I’m nervous and I lose all brain-to-mouth capability when I’m nervous.” She shrugs and her blush intensifies. She flails in silence a few moments before she looks up, not at Steve, but at Bucky. “You’re supposed to rip the band aid off, right? Not pull it slowly. That’s what you do. You start with the thesis, not bury the lead.”

Bucky blinks at her. “Uh… yeah.”

“See!” she says, turning to Steve. “Bucky agrees.”

Steve arches a brow at her, but the look is fond, both wry and warm. “I’m pretty sure he’d agree to anything right now, he’s so surprised.”

Bucky lifts a hand and points at Steve. “That’s also true.”

Darcy scrunches her face. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how it was supposed to go. Steve really did have a speech prepared. And it was nice. A little long,” she adds, “but nice. You want to hear it?”

“I… No.” Blinking again, Bucky lowers his hand. He looks from one to the other, unable to stop himself from shaking his head. “This is not what I thought you were going to say. At all.”

Darcy tilts her head at him. “What did you think we were going to say?”

Bucky waves a hand between them. “That you were— are…”

“We are,” Steve says. He looks at Darcy then and smiles.

“Just a couple of days,” she adds, returning the smile. 

“Just long enough…” Steve continues, but he falters halfway through and his smile fades. Darcy reaches out and lays a hand on his arm, giving him a small squeeze. The gesture helps for Steve turns to Bucky then and finishes. “Long enough for me to realize something about you.”

Bucky stares, his heart beating fast. “Oh.”

“Yeah. I… I’m— Bucky, I’m in love with you.”

Everything stops, his breath, his heart. “Oh. But…” Bucky can’t finish, but his eyes shift over to Darcy and complete the thought.

The smile returns to Steve’s face. “I also care about Darcy. Very much.”

“And that’s what he said,” Darcy informs Bucky, her lips curved in a hint of a grin. “Yesterday, when you were running with Scott. He tracked me down for a very noble and Steve Rogers chat in which he said that he cared about me very much and wanted to continue dating me, but that he’d realized something the past few days and that it wouldn’t be fair to date me if I didn’t know. So he told me. About you. About how he feels about you.”

“Oh.”

Steve nods, the fond look back on his face as he peered at Darcy. “And then she said…”

“And then I said…” Darcy pauses. Her gaze flits to Bucky and then away, off to the side then up to the stars. She keeps them there as she continues, her voice soft, “And then I said, well, what a coincidence, because I kind of am too.”

The world spins in déjà vu, rewinding and stopping again. “Oh.”

Darcy nods. “Yeah. So there we were,” she continues before he can say or do anything else, “just staring at each other, thinking, well, isn’t this a conundrum? Because, you know, we could date each other and mutually pine, or we could _not_ date and still pine…”

“Or,” Steve says, picking up the thread, “there was option number three, which Natasha was very happy to inform us of.”

Bucky eyes Steve, the lump still lodged in his throat. “Oh? And what… what was that?”

Steve looks him right in the eye. “That we could date each other _and_ date you because we were idiots if we couldn’t tell that you liked us, too.”

Bucky feels his face heat. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “Oh.”

No one says anything. Instead, Darcy and Steve stare at Bucky, waiting, likely, for his response, but he stays silent, both his brain and body frozen.

After a few seconds, Darcy nods. “Yeah, that was our response too. Stunned silence. Which must have been epically tragic because Sam lifted his head from the couch too and said, ‘Polyamory. Look it up. Please.’ And then they went back to watching _Master Chef_.”

Bucky looks at her, frowning. “Polyamory.”

Steve nods. “It means that we date. All of us. The three of us. At the same time.”

Bucky blinks at him. Once and then again as his gaze drifts over to Darcy before it returns for a second blink at Steve. All three of them. Together. His brain snags on the explanation, skipping like a record needle over the thought of him and Darcy and Steve together. At the same time.

As the silence persists, Darcy leans toward him. The lights from the veranda illuminate her face, catching the frown that again creases her brow. “I think that we broke him.”

Steve leans forward too, and he also frowns. “Buck, are you—”

“The three of us,” Bucky says, too loudly but unable to stop himself. “Together.”

Steve blinks at him, surprised, but then he starts to smile. “Yeah. The three of us.”

“At the same time?” he asks, looking at Darcy.

She nods. 

The confirmation does little to jumpstart his shell-shocked brain. Steve must realize for he eases closer and lays a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “It’s different, yes. But so are we. So’s the world. I mean,” he pauses here to smile at Bucky, their shared one, the one that comments in a glance at how just fucking weird the world has become, “we _are_ at the engagement party for a lady and a robot.”

“Android,” Darcy says. 

“Android,” Steve corrects.

“And Jane’s dating an alien,” Darcy adds, the frown starting to fade from her face, “and I would bet dollars to donuts that Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey are already in or have been in a three-way with each other, so we probably wouldn’t even crack the top three of strange Avengers relations, even with two-thirds of this being comprised of ninety year-old supersoldiers. But only if you want to,” Darcy continues, the pace of her speech increasing along with her nerves. “Because I know Natasha said that you did, but she might, possibly, somehow, some day be wrong.”

Steve tilts his head to look at Darcy. “Natasha doesn’t know everything. She said so herself.”

“Which is something you say when you don’t want everyone to know that you know everything. I mean, come on, Steve. That’s, like, the first rule of spy games.”

Bucky sees a smile nudge at Steve’s mouth, one so warm and fond he feels it like sunlight on his skin. And the thought of being a part of this, of being with them, of being loved by and in return loving them, hits Bucky so hard that he aches from it. And maybe he shouldn’t, but Natasha said that he should, and she, after all, knows everything.

“She’s not wrong.”

Both their heads snap towards him. 

“Really?”

“Both of us?”

Bucky looks at each of them in turn and nods.

Darcy whoops and rushes forward, ready to gather both him and Steve in a hug, but she stops as suddenly as she starts and looks at Bucky. “Wait, does this mean dating too? That you want to? With us?” 

The note of uncertainty in her voice twists at his gut. So does Steve tightening his grip on his shoulder. Throat swelling, Bucky nods. When he does, they both swoop in, Steve to wrap an arm around his shoulders and Darcy to loop hers around his waist. Bucky draws them in, trying not to tremble, but he does. He buries his head in the crook of Steve’s neck and curls his hand into the soft fabric of Darcy’s dress, and this mix, not of cherries and plums, but of hope and strength and spirit and love, is enough to make him believe.


End file.
